challenger night

Given I am unable to go to CalStar this year (and just as well since the weather looks poor), I took an open window to go to Fremont Peak last night to observe with the Challenger. I arrived at 6:00pm and opened right away, since it was close to 100 degrees in the observatory, and in the lower 80s outside. I ate and tried to take a nap. There was no one else there on a weekday night, and maybe only a couple of campers. It was nice to have the silence; no highway noise, just the crickets and an occasional hooting owl. Seeing was fairly good at 7/10 (and Jupiter and Saturn looked fantastic in the 5" refractor finder during twilight), but transparency was not very good, as evidenced by my difficulty observing even bright galaxies and the thin cloud cover in the morning. The focusers were all out of collimation. It was warm, just needing a tee-shirt most of the night. SQML didn't get higher than 20.8, and the Salinas sky glow was very pronounced. The site is very compromised, really only good when there is a marine layer, but there was none last night. I didn't try to use The Sky with the Challenger, so I was left only to star hop. I forgot to bring my RACI diagonal so this was a frustrating experience. I really need to learn how to use it since star hopping on this scope is a chore and I'll end up hating it.

Something special was a bright meteor travelling N-S through Cetus, which I saw while taking a break (at around 1am?) while sitting on the south facing bench on the pads.  Not only was it bright, and left behind a smoky trail which lingered a seconds, but I also heard the meteor.  I was out of ear shot of the Challenger's drive, which makes a continual grinding noise.  I heard a "ssst-pop" sound, coming from over my head and a little forward.  I heard it just as the tail was fading.  I found out at home later that these are called electrophonic meteors, and others report them too.  It was really cool to hear it.

Gamma Hercules: Someone posted on Cloudy Nights about DRS 58, a companion to Gamma Hercules. It was listed as 8th magnitude and 8" separation, though this is K band so the visual magnitude is something like 13. I tried it a couple times at home last week with my 20", employing an 9mm orthoscopic eyepiece with an occulting bar, but without success. This was my first target and while I noted several stars fairly close to the bright and swimming A (having set it below the occulting bar), none of them match the stated PA of DRS 58. So this will need to wait for another season to try, since Gamma is getting low.

5 Equ: 30" 118x: I don't find this in Stelle Doppie so will need to check my reference later. It's a double star in Equuleus and was immediately seen as a faint blue star, fairly wide from it's A.  [This is a terrible notation.  KNT 5 AB is 0.6" and 4 delta mag, and doable at high magnification.  BU 71 AC is nearly 8 delta mag and 60".  STFA 54 AD is only 1.3 delta mag but 335".  It's likely I saw the STFA, but I really didn't keep good notes.  In my defense, I was there for deep sky, not doubles]

I found M5 as a reference then moved to some things around it:

NGC 7068: 30" 457x: Near a bright star to the north, and a faint star just below it to the east. The galaxy is a dim streak, 4:1 N-S, but with a brighter bulging core and bright but non-stellar nucleus.

NGC 7094: 30" 166x: Shell is not seen without OIII filter. The central star is constantly seen. Shell has a fat tire shape, with a small dark hole around the central star. The outer shell is unevenly round, and between the dark hole and the edges there is some mottling or change in brightness & texture. The edges are generally soft, but there is a brightening with two knots on the NW and W rim. This did not take magnification well, it seemed to spread the shell out too much.

QSO 2237+0305 Einstein's Cross 30" 457x: After a long and careful star hop I found the correct region, using a backwards "L" asterism as my final finding pointer. I could see the lensing galaxy very consistently as a 3:1 glow with a brighter core. There was a faint star just to the north of the galaxy which I used to fine-focus and to monitor the seeing. When the seeing stills this star sharpened to a point and I knew that was the best moment. I spent about 20 minutes looking, and there were about ten instances in that time where a white point hardened in the haze a little offset to the south of the what I think was the center of the galaxy. This might have been the A component. A few times I felt there was a second such point, though much, much fainter -- which could have been C. But these views were so fleeting I wonder if it was simply the lensing galaxy's bright nucleus revealing itself. So the quest will continue.

BTW the corner star of the "L" appears to be a double, 7" separation, about 3 delta magnitude. I also felt the star at the tip of the small line of the "L" was also a double, very close, about 1" and a large delta mag. I don't see a second star marked at that position on Aladin.

NGC 7463, 7464, 7465: 30" 118x & 457x: Galaxy mash up. Three galaxies 3' to the NE of a bright 8th magnitude star. N7463 is largest, elongated 4:1 E-W, with a bright and mottled core, showing what must be dark lanes. It has a large faint halo of sweeping arms -- the arm to the west is brighter and emerges from the NW corner of the elongated core and sweeps West before turning south and seeming to envelope NGC 7464. N7464 is small, faint, brighter core with thin diffuse halo, and actually wedge shaped, like an arrowhead pointed WSW. A bit further to the east is NGC 7465, which is small, bright, and round with tapered tips pointed N-S; looks almost globular cluster like (in the DSS image there is a cluster of very faint stars scattered to the south of N7464. Is this an uncatalogued open cluster?

NGC 7468: Bright bean shape glow, N-S, almost no halo. Barest hint of dust lane? [I was just picking up on the odd misshape to the core, which is kind of notched].

NGC 7503, 7499, 7501: 30" 166x: Trio of faint ellipticals in an arc E-W, like an eyebrow. 7501 & are slightly closer together. There's a scattering of stars beneath the "brow" making the whole scene oddly circular.

NGC 7529: 30" 166x: Very diffuse, barely there, small round glow. Tough to make out. Did not see IC 5291.

NGC 14 = Arp 235: 30" 166x: Elongated 3:2 NE-SW, brighter mottled core increasing in brightness to an oval shaped nucleus. The faint halo, which at 457x spreads more brightly to the SW like a comet tail and envelop a faint star [DSS shows this glow and faint star].

NGC 240: Round mottled glow 1' to the NE of a ~10th magnitude star, diffuse edges, stellar nucleus. There seems to be a star or knot in the NE part of the outer halo.

NGC 584 & 586: 30" 166x: N 586, Bright compact nucleus and core, elongated 3:1 N-S, mist of a halo around it trying to organize but can't quite. N 584 a bit formless and diffuse, generally brighter in the middle.

NGC 596 30" 166x: Bright nucleus and core, round halo, mottling between halo and core. Must be spiral. Near bright star.

NGC 467 = Arp 227, 30" 166x: Bright with a compact core and round small halo, 3.6' to the west of a 7.5 magnitude star. I believe it is an Arp because of the small galaxy (LEDA 1249151) 1.6' to the west which appears to be enveloped into its halo; did not see this galaxy.

NGC 470 & 474 30" 166x: On the opposite of the star from NGC 467. NGC 474 has a bright mottled core elongated 3:1 N-S. DSS image shows a huge round surrounding halo, not seen. NGC 470 is the largest, but faintest, with a stellar nucleus and obvious mottling in the halo -- definitely spiral but very disorganized.

NGC 520 = Arp 157 "Flying Ghost": 30" 166x: Very interesting object. A faint star on NE end of a cometary shaped galaxy, bright elongated core lopsided on the same side as the star, with a mottled, ragged halo which trails off to the SE. [This is an interacting pair; the disks have merged but the nuclei have not yet.]

AGC 194: So many galaxies, popping into view in the general fog of the area and with averted vision. A bit much to describe but my field sketch of the area notes 16 galaxies within a half degree field of view.

M74 30" 166x: Gently inclined spiral, brighter on East end, brighter core, mottling suggesting spiral within the whole round halo, diffuse edges. .

M77 30" 118x, 166x, 457x. The core appears like a spiral within the larger spiral, like a cat's eye shape. The core itself has dark lanes which separate it from the larger halo. Definite spiral structure in the halo. Intensely bright nucleus. The huge halo sweeps like a shell or wave on both north and south sides, though is it brighter on the northside. There's a bright star in the spiral arm gap on the south side. Very great object, takes magnification well.